Fallen Stars
by ChatterChick
Summary: They were pure-bloods. They were loyal. They had done the right thing and supported the cause from the moment the Dark Lord returned. That should have protected them, but it didn't.


**Fallen Stars**

by ChatterChick

Summary: They were pure-bloods. They were loyal. They had done the right thing and supported the cause from the moment the Dark Lord returned. That should have protected them, but it didn't. Draco/Astoria

A/N: I appreciate feedback, so please let me know if you have any. Enjoy!

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 _"Astoria Greengrass, who had gone through a similar (though less violent and frightening) conversion from pure-blood ideals to a more tolerant life view, was felt by Narcissa and Lucius to be something of a disappointment as a daughter-in-law." - JK Rowling_

xXxXx

 _"Crucio."_

Her mother's screams filled the sitting room.

Astoria squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears slip down her cheeks. She couldn't stand seeing her mother, her beautiful, witty, strong _mother_ , writhing on the floor, screaming in pain any more. Sobs caught in her throat, and her shoulders violently shook. The only thing preventing her from collapsing on the floor and breaking down was an arm across her chest, pinning her to her captor. His wand poked menacingly into her side.

It had been just Astoria and her mother at home when _they_ came. A group of six wizards clothed in the long, black robes of the Death Eaters. They wore the silver masks with snake-like eyes slits, making them indistinguishable from one another. Their voices were also disguised, toneless and low-pitched, leaving them truly feel like strangers.

At first they had been polite, accepting her mother's offer of tea and sitting around the room. Her mother had been a little tense at their unexpected visitors, but polite nonetheless. Astoria had felt uneasy, sitting next to her mother as she made meaningless conversation about the weather and the holidays. The Death Eater's appearance frightened Astoria and she wished they would just take off their masks. They were all friends, there was no need to cover themselves.

That was until they learned the nature of this visit wasn't a social call.

"Where is your husband, Helios Greengrass?" The leader had asked her mother. That had been over an hour ago, and they were no closer to learning where Helios Greengrass had disappeared after abandoning his mission the night before.

The screams stopped as the curse was lifted once more. Her mother was given a few moments to catch her breath. The first few times, she had been able to push herself up, but now she only curled into herself.

"Where is he?" The leader repeated.

"I don't know." Sappho Greengrass weakly replied. "I swear to you I – "

" _Crucio_."

" _Mum_!" Astoria screamed, struggling to get to her. This wasn't fair, they hadn't done anything wrong! Why didn't the Death Eaters believe that her mother had no idea where her father had run off to? Astoria's captor held her back, his arm tightening across her shoulders and pulling her close. She tried to cry out, her lips forming the words to tell him to let her _go_ , but discovered that he had muted her.

"Don't draw attention to yourself," he whispered in her ear. That toneless, disguised voice frightened her and sent shivers down her spine. "Or it'll be you next."

Numbly, Astoria stopped fighting him. His words had felt like a splash of cold water and her heart had frozen. She hadn't really given much thought to what would happen to her. Would they torture her when they accepted that Sappho was telling the truth? It was unbearable to watch, but Astoria knew it would be a thousand times worse to experience it. Professor Carrow had gone over the Unforgivable Curses in great length the first half of the year.

When the curse was lifted, this time Sappho slumped to the floor. Her eyes closed as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Pity," the leader coolly responded. "Let's see if the girl knows anything."

Astoria started shaking in terror. She tried to tell them she didn't know anything, but the silencing spell was still in place.

These were supposed to be the good guys. The witches and wizards who championed the pure-blood cause. They were going to be the ones to save them from Albus Dumbledore and his army of blood-traitors and half-breeds. She had been told stories of their heroics as a child, about how one day their Lord would rise from the ashes and take back the ministry from the hands of Dumbledore.

They didn't think they were sympathetic to blood-traitors, did they?

Her captor spoke. "Let me. I was hoping to escort her upstairs, have a private one-on-one chat in her room."

There were sounds of laughter from the other Death Eaters. Astoria didn't notice them, time felt like it had slowed down.

"Very well," the leader agreed. "The rest of you, search the house."

She struggled as the Death Eater led her upstairs to her bedroom. She dragged her feet and kicked and scratched him, but she was wand-less and half the size of him. What had she done to deserve this? She had always been a good pure-blood witch. She loved her family and her friends. She did good in school. She was always polite and courteous. She didn't associate with lesser beings like muggle-borns or half-breeds. She didn't understand why any of the Death Eaters would want to hurt her.

The Death Eater who had taken her upstairs had taken off his mask, and in his place was her older brother's best friend. He was kneeling in front of her, his kind blue eyes looking worriedly into hers.

"Cas?" She whispered.

Cassius Warrington grimly nodded. "I'm sorry I had to be so rough with you."

In a rare display of open affection, she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing with relief. She was safe. Cassius wouldn't dream of hurting her. He and Jason had been friends growing up and Cassius was like a secondary brother to her and Daphne.

"You're safe with me, Tori," he murmured. "It's okay."

Embarrassed at her break down, Astoria pulled away. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she tried to compose herself. "Mother?"

"She'll be fine, a bit sore I'm afraid." Cassius smoothed her hair. "Put Essence of Dittany on the bruises, and give her a dose of Painless Potion once she wakes. That should help."

Her parents ran Greengrass Apothecary, and were responsible for supplying the Death Eaters with healing potions at a discounted rate. Astoria knew they had a good stock saved up, and many Death Eaters came here to be fixed up after a mission or encounter with the Order.

"I have to ask, do you know where your father is?"

Astoria closed her eyes and shook her head. Her father left yesterday on 'business' and promised he'd be back before Christmas. Until the Death Eaters had shown up looking for him, Astoria had no reason to believe anything was wrong. "He said he'd be back before Christmas. I'm telling the truth, I swear."

"I know," Cassius tried to reassure her. "I believe you, and no one's going to torture you like that."

These were empty reassurances. They had tortured her mother for an hour and even if Cassius was among them, Astoria knew she'd be facing a similar fate. As it were, she had no idea how this would play out once they others got bored of waiting or came to check on them. They're quickly notice that Cassius had no intention of hurting her, but she wasn't sure if he would openly defend her.

"This is ridiculous," Cassius shook slightly with rage."They're terrorizing good pure-blood families when they should be looking for Order members and blood-traitors."

Astoria silently agreed. Why were they turning on each other when they needed to stay strong the most? The Order was still out there, trying to turn society against them and kill them off.

Suddenly, Cassius gasped and clutched his left arm. A series of cracks sounded in her house, signalling that the others had disapparated. Astoria counted as each of them left, leaving just her and Cassius. A sense of relief spread throughout her stomach.

"That's our Lord," Cassius explained with a hiss of pain, "I need to go. I'll send Jason as soon as I can to come check on you."

xXxXx

"Really, go on without me," Astoria said, trying her best to look upset at missing out on a Hogsmeade weekend trip. "I need to go to the library to work on that Potions essay and it'll take all day."

Her usual cohorts, Cecilia Avery and Emily Wilkes, looked lost as Astoria shook them off. She was the undisputed social queen of the fifth year, but since returning Astoria had wanted space more than anything. She felt like a ghost of her former self. She was slower to smile, uninterested in her usual hobbies and couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. The Averys and Wilkes hadn't done anything to earn the Dark Lord's wrath and her friends were so much more naive than her.

She envied them that. So much that it hurt to talk to them these days.

They giggled and laughed and spoke about the holiday parties they attended. They gossiped about the cute wizards who had taken the mark. They were silly and frivolous and Astoria wished more than anything she could be that way again.

"Okay," Cecilia hesitantly said, "we'll be at The Three Broomsticks around noon if you finish early and want to meet up."

Astoria managed a bright smile as she agreed to meet them later once her essay was done. The chance of that happening was slim to none as Astoria had no intention of actually working on the essay so she could drag it out as long as possible.

With a wave, Astoria left her friends to take refuge in the library. Her mind lost as her feet steered her in the right direction.

Her father's abandonment still stung deeply, Astoria didn't want to believe that he had left them in a time like this. Days stretched into weeks and there was still no word from him. Astoria knew that if he turned up at this point, he would be dead as the Death Eaters were quite unforgiving. Even worst was the scrutiny that the Greengrass family faced in his absence. Her mother's loyalties were called into question and now her older brother, Jason, was being asked to prove himself. He had left on some fool's errand in the new year's and Astoria worried that he would die in the process. He couldn't explain the specifics, but he looked grim as he left.

The attention had shifted over to Daphne and herself since then. While Astoria was still protected somewhat by her youth, suggestions were being made at forcing Daphne to take the Dark Mark or to marry one of the current Death Eaters. Pure-bloods were getting worried that entire families had been wiped out during the course of the war and more would die off before Harry Potter and the Order were stopped. There was suggestions of a new marriage act to allow families to arrange marriages contracts so that more pure-blood children would be born. In a year's time Astoria would be seventeen and would be the exact type of witch the law would affect if it came into place.

Astoria was horrified at the thought of it.

Jason had already told her that should it come to pass, he would arrange for her and Daphne to marry his best friends, Cassius Warrington and Graham Montague, to make sure that they were married to honourable wizards. Power had gone to many Death Eaters' heads and Jason said some of the pure-bloods were little more than thugs these days.

Astoria shook her head as she cracked open a novel. She had the cover of it transfigured to _Moste Potente Potions_ so that anyone who saw her would assume she was working on her homework and leave her alone. A piece of parchment and quill were next to her. The pages of the novel, however, were some sappy witch-lit novel by Lola Hartley. Reading these days was the only way to escape the bleakness of her own life. It allowed her to pretend, even if it was just for a short while, that she was some heroine swept up in a whirlwind romance or off on some great adventure. It gave her mind something to occupy itself with other than the war. She stayed away from anything that hit too close to home and so far witch-lit was the only thing light enough.

"Do you mind if I borrow that when you're done? The library's copy was loaned out."

Astoria lowered the book to find Draco Malfoy standing in front of her. He looked about as well as she felt. His skin was too pale and gaunt and there was a haunted look to his eyes. His family had displeased the Dark Lord years ago and the Malfoys had been in disgrace ever since. They shared a brief moment of eye contact and suddenly Astoria felt a connection she hadn't in weeks.

"It's not, um, I transfigured the cover - "

She felt her cheeks flush at the thought of Draco reading _The Veela and the Beast._

Draco nodded almost in understanding, "So that people would leave you alone. I'll go."

There was a pause, as if Draco couldn't quite bring himself to leave or like he had something he wanted to say. Astoria sat patiently, knowing that if she waited long enough he would find his courage or leave.

"I was sorry to hear about your brother," he ground out, almost hesitantly. "I hope his mission goes well."

"Thank you," Astoria said, knowing that out of everyone, Draco understood what was at stake and what Jason was going through.

He briefly nodded, before turning and walking away.

"Wait, Draco - Do you want to join me?" she asked. "I - I could use some company."

xXxXx

It had become their secret.

They would slip off together and walk around the Black Lake or The Room of Hidden Things. Draco would cast some privacy charm over the pair so that they could talk freely without worry that someone would overhear, although they stayed far away from most people anyway. Astoria found that Draco was incredibly easy to talk to.

Sometimes they would even just talk about simple things, like the holidays they had taken as kids or what they learned about in Potions or History of Magic that day. She learned that Draco's favourite class was transfiguration, not potions, even though most assumed the latter due to Snape's blatant favouritism. She learned that he always wished for siblings, or at least cousins growing up. He had been surprised when he learned last year that he did actually have a cousin on his mother's side. Those conversations went on for hours as they wandered aimlessly around and when she was with him, Astoria lost all track of time. They often had to run back to their common room, not wanting to be caught by the Carrows or Flich out past curfew.

Other times they would talk about the hard things. Piece by piece, Draco told Astoria what had happened the year before and how he had been given the impossible task of killing Dumbledore. In turn, she told him about what had happened to her family after her father abandoned them. It felt good to talk about it, and even better that Draco did not give empty reassurances like her friends did.

"I was so angry at my father at first," Draco told her once, "he failed and _I_ was the one being punished for it."

Astoria nodded, trying on a sapphire ring in The Room of Hidden Things. Even sparkling jewellery no longer held her attention. She hurled it into the pile of lost and hidden junk, listening to it clung as it fell somewhere on the floor. "I'm still angry at mine. He just _left_. At least yours still cared about you and came back as soon as he could. It's not fair that Jason has to suffer, it's not like he can control that our father's a coward."

Draco bitterly smiled, his grey eyes starring out into space. "And yet that's what we've been doing to muggle-borns all these years. Punishing them for something they can't control, their parentage."

"That - that's different," Astoria weakly protested. "They're _mudbloods_ , they're - it's not the same."

"How?" Draco asked. He didn't have it in him to argue his point any further. Astoria could tell that he had been thinking it over for some time now and wanted to share it with someone who might possibly understand. "We're being punished for our father's mistakes, the same we punish others for their parentage. You know as well as I do, I hope, that Granger and the others aren't actually stealing magic. It's all lies just to lock them in Azkaban."

One conversation with Draco wasn't enough to entirely change her mind on mudbloods. But Astoria started to wonder more if the war around them was really worth it. The Death Eaters said they were protecting magical blood, but more pure-blood lines had ended since this all started and she was sure they would be extinct by the end of the fighting. In that way, they were losing.

After the Easter holidays, Draco stopped talking.

He looked haunted as he sat on the ground by the Great Lake. A pile of flat, round pebbles had been collected and sat next to him as he sent each one skipping into the lake. It didn't take Astoria long to track him down once she realized he was avoiding the common room. There was only so many places Draco went for privacy and she knew them all.

"It's a nice day," Astoria ventured as she sat down next to him. "I didn't even need an outer robe."

There was a swift nod as he confirmed that he heard her. There was a long silence as Draco sent another pebble skipping into the lake. It bounced three times before slipping into the water. Astoria sent one too, but it was only with the subtle wave of her wand that she was able to make it skip once.

The silence disturbed her and she wondered if Draco needed to talk or just needed someone to be there. Or maybe he didn't want her company at all. "If you want to be left alone, I can go back inside the castle," she quietly offered after a few more moments of silence.

"Please stay," Draco finally spoke, his grey eyes finding hers. Draco's guard was down and she could see the raw emotions reflected in them. "I don't want to be alone with my thoughts."

"Draco - " Astoria nervously asked, "are you okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Draco said, sounding pained as he spoke. "It doesn't change what happened."

"What do you want then?" Astoria asked.

"A distraction," he murmured.

Astoria opened her mouth to try to come up with some mundane topic that she could prattle on about, distracting them both from the current reality. Instead, she was silenced as Draco leaned in, his lips pressed lightly on hers. It was hesitant at first, as if he was asking permission to use her in such a way. It quickly changed, as Astoria not only allowed herself to be Draco's distraction, but welcomed the distraction that he brought to her.

xXxXx

Astoria sat on the cold, stone floor of the dungeons with her back pressed up against the wall. Cecilia Avery and Emily Wilkes were sitting with her, huddled on the right and left side of her. The three of them held hands as they waited for the fighting to end upstairs.

Whatever happened, Astoria knew that their lives would be changed forever. One side would emerge victorious and then what? Astoria couldn't decide which side she wanted to win.

If the Dark Lord and his allies won, then things would continue as they had been. Astoria's family would be under scrutiny until Jason proved himself or the Death Eaters moved on to someone else. They would no doubt pass some marriage law and force her to marry some pure-blood and begin producing pure-blood children as soon as she was of legal age. Her sons would be recruited by the Death Eaters as teenagers and her daughters married off in a similar matter.

If Harry Potter and the Order won, then surely her family would be thrown into Azkaban and locked away. Astoria knew she was innocent, but she would be alone in society, with no family and few friends left. The Greengrass fortune would probably be stripped away too as 'retribution' and she would be a ward of the state until she came of age. It was too bleak to even think about.

And then there was the unthinkable, what if Jason died? Her brother was surely out there fighting with the Death Eaters. Possibly her mother too, if she caught wind of the battle taking place. Her mother would come, if only to ensure that her children would survive. She had no way of knowing that her and Daphne were safe and locked away from the thick of it.

Her sister, Daphne, paced the floor in front of her. Pansy was leaned up against the wall, her face ashen. She had been the only one brave enough to say what they all had been thinking, but she had been the reason the Slytherins were lead to the dungeons to wait out the fighting. The professors were all against the Death Eaters, that much was clear. Any sign that the children of the Death Eaters would join them and they were sent out of the fight.

"Where's Draco?" Astoria suddenly asked, realizing that he was missing along with Vincent Crabbe and Greg Goyle.

There was a realization in Pansy's eyes. "He's gone to find his parents."

Hours later, they were retrieve by Professor Slughorn. Astoria could tell by his stance that Lord Voldemort had fallen and Harry Potter was the victor once more. It was as if the tension he had carried in his shoulders the past two years had been vanished and there was a sense of relief to him. His eyes were tired though, and Astoria shuddered to think what he had seen.

Despite the uncertainty of her future, Astoria felt relieved that Lord Voldemort didn't win.

"Lord Voldemort has been defeated," Professor Slughorn informed them, "I have been asked to lead you back upstairs to the Great Hall. Parents are arriving at Hogwarts and wish to see that their children have been unharmed. There are a few of you that I would ask to speak privately with. The others may go upstairs to reunite with their families if they wish. When I call your name, if you could kindly wait here after I send everyone else out, Cecilia Avery - "

There was a broken sob beside her and Astoria knew that her friend was going to be given some bad news. More than likely, Professor Slughorn was tasked with informing his students that their family members didn't survive. She waited to hear her and Daphne's names, but they were never called.

She and her sister made their way upstairs to be greeted by Jason and their mother.

"My girls," Sappho Greengrass cried with relief, hugging the pair of them tightly. Her usually styled blonde hair was undone and strands of it fell out of the bun. Her face was sooty as if she had been in the fighting. In worse shape was Jason, who had his arm in a sling and a deep gash near his hairline.

"What's going to happen now?" Daphne fretfully asked them.

"We're not sure," Jason exchanged a nervous look with their mother, "Shacklebolt said all the Death Eaters will receive notice of their trials in the upcoming weeks. We've been warned not to try to skip town."

"Whatever happens, we'll figure it out," Sappho told them. Tears filled her sapphire blue eyes. "Oh my girls, you're _safe_."

It was then that Astoria glanced around the room, noticing families huddled together speaking in low tones. There were groups of students standing together too, the ones who's families weren't involved in the fighting. A group of witches and wizards were tending to the injured and there were bodies laid out on the floor. They had been covered with blankets, but the sight would haunt Astoria for years to come.

Finally, her eyes were drawn to Draco. He was sitting in-between his parents, the three of them looking just as lost as Astoria felt. He must have felt her eyes on him because he immediately looked up and their eyes met across the Great Hall. Astoria gave a hesitant smile and that seemed to be enough because Draco was standing up and she was running towards him.

They met somewhere in the middle and Astoria was hugging Draco. She could feel him trembling as he held onto her. It was sometime later that they broke apart, when a tiny cough came from behind them. Startled, Astoria found Draco's parents had come over to join them.

"Mum, Dad," Draco said, holding her hand tightly within his, "I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Astoria Greengrass."

xXxXx

"Hello," said Scorpius, "Hogwarts too?"

Her son was standing up on a stool in Madame Malkin's, a large black robe being pinned and fitted by Madame Malkin. Another boy had joined him, hopping up on another stool as a second witch summoned one of the display robes for him to try on.

"Yes," he said. "It's my first year."

"Mine too!" Scorpius enthusiastically agreed.

Astoria's heart went out to him. Aside from his sister and cousins, Scorpius had no playmates or friends, especially other young wizards, and he was so excited to start school and meet some. Astoria hoped that times had changed and the other kids wouldn't be unkind to Scorpius for being a Malfoy. The years after the war had been difficult and families like the Malfoys and Greengrasses had retreated into their manors, finding that society wanted little to do with them. The trials were fair towards those who had been coerced into serving to protect their families. After their society had been ripped apart by war, the Ministry looked more at rehabilitation rather than locking away a good portion of its population. Still, there was a sigma attached to their families they couldn't shake.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Scorpius asked, "I'm hoping to be like Slytherin, the house of the ambitious. Just like Mum and Dad."

Astoria waited breathlessly for the boy to respond, worried that he would sneer or make a negative comment about Slytherin. She knew Draco would have to talk to Scorpius about the war, and their part in it, before the boy left for Hogwarts and heard the story from his peers. She just wished she could spare him a little longer. He didn't deserve to be judged for his parents. No one did.

The boy's mother nervously approached her. "The boys seem to be getting along fine."

"They do," Astoria agreed. Although she kept her cool, she knew that internally she was just as nervous as the other woman looked.

"I'm Kathy Lynch," the woman offered, holding out her hand.

"Astoria Malfoy."

"I hope you don't mind if I ask, but you're a witch?" Kathy awkwardly ventured, "I mean, you're dressed like the others so I assumed..."

Astoria slyly inspected the woman. She hadn't realized it at first as a good number of muggle-borns and half-bloods had taken to dressing in muggle fashions. This was the closest that Astoria had ever been to a muggle before. "Yes, I am."

The woman looked both relieved and a little embarrassed.

"Professor Longbottom said your people call us 'muggles'. Patrick's the first wizard in our family," Kathy confessed, she looked proud of her son and Astoria recognized the look immediately. She was sure she looked the same whenever she mentioned Scorpius. "I was hoping, if you don't mind, I just haven't the slightest clue where to find some of these items."

Astoria knew that years ago she would have left the shop, horrified to find that they catered to muggle-borns. She would have washed her hands, worried what kind of filth she would have picked up from touching a muggle's hand. If her mother-in-law only knew that Scorpius was happily chatting to a muggle-born, she would have pulled him off the stool and insisted that he buy his robes at another shop.

But Astoria was no longer that ignorant little girl and the Malfoys were going to be better people.

"This might take some time," Astoria said, nodding to where their sons were being fitted for school robes. "I'll show you where you can find some of the other supplies."

Kathy looked relieved. "Thank you."

"Scorpius," Astoria smoothly cut into her son's excited explanation of the four houses, "I'm going to show Patrick's mother the apothecary and where to find Ollivander and Son's. You two will meet us at Flourish and Blott's at noon."

"Okay Mum," Scorpius said, before suddenly lighting up, "can we go to Weasley's if we finish here early then?"

"If that's alright with Patrick's mother?"

"Of course," Kathy responded, much to the two boys' delight. A little quieter, she asked Astoria, "What's Weasley's?"

"A popular joke store, the kids all love it," Astoria explained. "You'll see for yourself, it's just on the corner."

She linked her arm through the other woman's, as if they were dear friends and lead her outside Madame Malkin's and into the cobblestone street. Kathy pulled out the folded piece of parchment that contained all the school supplies for the first years. Astoria cheerfully answered the other woman's many questions about the world.

"Patrick will fit in just fine," Astoria smoothly assured her, "I'm sure it'll be something of an adjustment, but he'll be like any other young wizard."

And she truly believed it.


End file.
